An exotic-looking spacecraft and mother ship has been revealed by a celebrated US aerospace pioneer, who says it is the first privately funded human space programme.

Burt Rutan, best known for his non-stop, round-the-world aircraft Voyager, hopes the hitherto secret project will prove the viability of private space craft and thereby encourage other designers “What we’re trying to do is show that it can be done at extremely low cost,” he said.

The Tier One programme was unveiled at the headquarters of Rutan’s company, Scaled Composites, in California on Friday. It consists of two entirely new flight vehicles, rocket motors, a mobile ground station and a flight simulator. “It is a complete manned space programme, with all its support elements,” says Rutan.

The mother ship is twin turbojet aircraft with a 25-metre wing span, called White Knight. The eight-metre long spacecraft, called SpaceShipOne (SS1), is designed to carry three people. It is slung under the belly of White Knight, which carries it up to 15,000 metres.

At that point, the SS1 separates and its rocket engine ignites, powering it into a steep climb at speeds of up to 3.5 times the speed of sound. SS1 will peak at an altitude of 100 kilometres. A long free fall back to Earth follows during which SS1’s three astronauts will experience about 3.5 minutes of micro-gravity in a “shirt sleeves environment”.

Unconventional descent

During the descent, Rutan intends to use a typically unconventional approach to reducing SS1’s speed. Its twin moveable tails will rotate on their booms, acting like a shuttlecock to increase drag and enhance stability. The g-forces the astronauts experience should not exceed a relatively comfortable five.

At 24,000 metres, the tails will return to their normal position and the spacecraft glides back to a runway landing. The total time of the sub-orbital flight is expected to be about 30 minutes.

Rutan has not revealed the customer for whom Scaled Composites is developing Tier One or its cost. It is known that two companies are competing to supply the hybrid rocket engine that will power SS1.

Both SS1 and the White Knight are built from the lightweight composite materials that have become Rutan’s trademark and both feature a number of double paned, round portholes that keep the weight – and production costs – to a minimum.

The Tier One programme could win the $10 million X-prize, for the first privately funded project that launches and safely returns passengers to 100 kilometres twice in two weeks. However, development costs will greatly exceed the X-Prize purse and Rutan says: “The big message is not to reach the X-Prize, but to show that space tourism is affordable.”

No date for the first flight was released. But White Knight is essentially completed and already undergoing air trials, and SS1 is in an advanced state of construction. It is thought a flight will be attempted before the 100^th anniversary of the Wright brothers’ first flight in December.

One of Europe’s foremost rocket scientists, Alan Bond, told ��è����Ƶ he has “great admiration” for Burt Rutan and wishes him well. Bond is currently developing a more advanced, single-stage-to-orbit vehicle called Skylon.

But he adds a note of caution: ” Burt Rutan has shown amazing innovation in the field of lightweight aircraft design and construction, but space flight – even to relatively low altitudes – presents significant challenges. That said, if anyone can pull it off, I’m sure he can.”

The existence of a secret programme to produce Britain’s own stealth plane has been revealed with the declassification of a single photograph and a short statement.

The craft pictured is full-scale model and was completed in 1999, after five years of work. The £20 million programme, codenamed Replica, was jointly funded by BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence.

Few details have been released, but BAE Systems says Replica was subjected to a “rigorous test programme”, which assessed its cross section on radar. This would be key to evaluating whether the craft had “low observability”, i.e. stealth. However, it is not known whether systems to reduce its infra-red, acoustic or visual signatures were used.

Replica was never intended to be as difficult to detect as the exotic and extremely expensive pure stealth aircraft such as the US F-117a and B-2. But UK stealth specialists are said to have achieved their goal of striking a balance between low observability and cost. It also demonstrated British expertise in the complex world of stealth technology.

Uneven edge

Technology derived from Replica may well filter into future aircraft. These could include the manned and unmanned concept aircraft under consideration as part of the UK’s wide-ranging Future Offensive Air System (FOAS) programme. This aims to fill the gap left when the Tornado GR4 strike/attack aircraft is retired. FOAS has a current delivery date of 2017.

A key contributing factor to an aircraft’s radar stealth is the precision with its which its components are fabricated and assembled – any radar-reflecting edges or gaps must be avoided.

British engineers tackled this by creating a virtual 3-D aircraft on computer and then using this data directly to control computer-aided manufacturing systems. These, for example, helped produce the carbon-fibre composite panels that make up the aircraft’s skin. During assembly, the panels were aligned with the assistance of laser projection.

What happened to the Replica programme after 1999 is not known. But with the deadline fast approaching for the FOAS programme to move from the “concept” to the “assessment phase”, analysts would dearly like to know if a prototype of Replica has secretly flown.

UN weapon inspectors have not uncovered any chemical and biological weapons (CBWs), and fierce international debate continues over the necessity of military action to ensure Iraq has disarmed.

But Iraq has failed to account for large quantities of CBWs and if these were discovered during a conflict, their rapid destruction would be a very high priority. The US military is developing several variants of precision-guided “agent defeat weapons” (ADWs) and some are close to entering service, says Clifford Beale, editor-in-chief at Jane’s Defence Weekly.

“Much of this work is classified, but it would seem reasonable to assume that an ADW capability would be available,” he told ��è����Ƶ. “A good deal of work in this area has already been done.”

Another novel weapon that is likely to be in the US arsenal is the High Power Microwave (HPM) device reported on by ��è����Ƶ in August 2002. This destroys electronic equipment in command, control and communications targets by unleashing an intense electromagnetic burst.

Incendiary device

Destroying CBWs without dispersing their deadly contents is a difficult task. Using conventional explosives is not an option – their detonation generates a shockwave of rapidly gases that would disperse the deadly agents far and wide. C4 high explosive, for example, creates a velocity of detonation of about 8000 metres per second.

Instead, ADW’s uses incendiary chemical ‘fills’ that produce intense and long-lasting fires, rather than exploding. Some designs also belch out a cocktail of bleaching chemicals to further reduce the threat.

One such ADW is being developed by the US Naval Surface Warfare Center, in Indian Head, Maryland, along with Lockheed Martin, the USAF and others. First, it uses existing laser- or satellite-guided bombs such as the BLU-116 or BLU-109, to penetrate an underground bunker.

It then adopts a slash-and-burn approach, firing out copper plates at high velocity to puncture the chemical and biological tanks and, finally, igniting a specially-developed, incendiary fill is ignited. This produces extreme temperatures and disinfecting chlorine gas. Another ADW is the HTI-J-1000, which burns titanium boron lithium perchlorate, giving off both chlorine and fluorine.

Beale adds: “It’s also known that some of the ADW research has been into man-deployable, rather than air-dropped weapons.” These could be used by special forces soldiers on the ground, or they could simply seal the bunkers until after the conflict.

“From day one, the highest priority will be given to securing any facilities containing chemical or biological agents,” he says. “The last thing anyone needs is for these compounds to get into the hands of terrorists.”

“In terms of conventional warfare, any conflict between Iraq and the US would be a total mismatch,” says Jeremy Binnie, Middle East Editor for Janes Sentinel Security Assessment. “However, there are various asymmetric (unconventional) tactics that Iraq could employ which could make allied objectives more difficult to achieve.”

Recent announcements of further troop deployments have brought the number of US and British troops committed to the Gulf region to around 200,000.

Iraq’s armed forces are estimated at 389,000 (army 350,000, navy 2,000, air force 20,000 and air defence 17,000). Its paramilitary forces are thought to number around 44,000, and reserves 650,000 (Source: International Institute for Strategic Studies).

Despite their smaller numbers, allied ground combat units would be supported by aircraft such as the B-52, B-1B bombers, AC-130 and helicopter gunships. In any war, a key early objective for the coalition would the establishment of air superiority to protect allied forces from attacks by Iraqi aircraft

Iraqi Air Force

Before the Gulf War, more than 100 of Saddam’s most sophisticated fighter planes were flown to Iran to prevent destruction by Coalition forces. They were never returned. Unconfirmed estimates from Iraqi dissidents suggest that Iraq possesses fewer than 100 serious combat aircraft. Of these, around 50 may be operational at any one time. This compares with more than 800 allied aircraft including: B-2 stealth bombers (now with a forward base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean), F-117 stealth fighters, B-52 and B-1B bombers, F-15s, F-16s, F-14s, UK Tornadoes and a range of attack helicopters and gunships, including the AH-64D Longbow Apache. Iraqi air force sorties are likely to be one-way missions – or decoys aimed at luring allied aircraft into missile traps.

Iraqi Army

Despite the army’s apparent size, analysts question whether the majority of regular troops would put up much resistance. The inner circles of Saddam’s army, such as The Republican Guard and Special Republican Guard, are better trained, equipped and paid. Like the paramilitary force – the ‘Fidayin Saddam,’ headed by Saddam’s son, Uday – they are likely to prove more formidable opponents.

Iraq is thought to possess around 2,000 tanks, but only 700 or so are relatively modern Soviet T-72s – no match for approximately 1,000 US M1 Abrams and UK Challenger 2s main battle tanks.

There is growing consensus among military experts that Iraq would avoid large-scale, battlefield engagements in favour of withdrawing to cities to engage Coalition forces in a war of attrition. This would lead to great loss of life, both military and civilian.

Phillip Mitchell, Ground Forces analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London believes Saddam may try to use high casualty figures as a weapon of a propaganda war: “Saddam will aim to cause allied casualties of sufficient magnitude to be politically unacceptable in both London and Washington.”

Technologies of war

Despite grabbing headlines and TV coverage, precision guided munitions accounted for around ten percent of all bombs dropped during the 1991 Gulf War. That figure will rise dramatically in any new war.

Patrick Garrett of security analysts GlobalSercurity.org in Virginia is sceptical of reports that Iraq has acquired electronic jammers designed to interfere with the GPS signals that guide some bombs – a worrying prospect for allied commanders seeking to minimise civilian casualties.

“No one knows for sure if these reports are true, or how well – or even if – jammers would work,” he says.

Equally unproven are reports that Iraq has acquired Ukrainian made, ‘Kolchuga’ passive radar systems that use powerful computers to process background radio frequencies to search for distortions caused by aircraft.

Unlike active radar systems that transmit signals, making them vulnerable to attack by radar-seeking missiles, passive systems linked by optical fibres don’t transmit. They simply ‘listen’, making them harder to locate.

Iraq’s radar systems – along with its 2,000 mostly Soviet surface to air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery batteries – will be the focus of first wave and sustained air strikes known as Suppression of Enemy Air Defence (SEAD) missions.

Unconventional weapons

Among the weapons available to the US are bombs or missile warheads designed to attack systems rather than people. These include so-called E-Bombs that generate electromagnetic fields more powerful than a lighting strike.

Another is the BLU-114/B ‘soft’ bomb that disables power distribution infrastructures. At low altitude, the spinning bomb releases canisters containing fine carbon filaments which open and spread out in a circular pattern to form a conductive spider’s web of trouble for any electrical equipment below. Another variant uses carbon dust that is drawn into electronic equipment by cooling fans, causing short circuits.

Unlike the E-bomb and soft bomb, thermobaric bombs are also devastating anti-personnel devices (see “Bunker busters enter action in Afghanistan”). Especially deadly in confined areas such as bunkers or caves, they also have an enormous psychological impact.

Small, shoulder fired thermobaric weapons are under development, but it is not known whether they will be deployed.

The wild card among unconventional weapons is electronic warfare and countermeasures – everything from signal and radar jamming to enemy computer and data hacking.

Unmanned air vehicles

Originally conceived as robotic spy planes, UAVs such as the Predator recently claimed a new role as strike aircraft after being fitted with ‘Hellfire’ anti-tank missiles. However, their main function will be reconnaissance. They can remain airborne for 24 hours, relaying vital real time images and sensor data.

High on the list of identification targets for manned and unmanned spy planes will be any remaining mobile Scud missile launchers. Of grave concern to planners is that as part of an endgame strategy,Saddam may attack Israel and allied troops with his estimated 20 Scud missiles armed with chemical or biological warheads. The consequences for the Middle East could be catastrophic.

Defeat seems inevitable for Saddam. The question remains how dangerous he would become in the end, and crucially, whether he could maintain the support of his generals should he decide to use the weapons of mass destruction Iraq has denied possessing for so many years.

A formerly top secret, bat-winged stealth jet has taken the aviation world by surprise, after a low key unveiling in St Louis, Missouri.

It may look like it flew straight off the screen of a sci-fi movie, but the Bird of Prey is no flight of fancy – it could translate into serious business for its makers, aerospace giant Boeing.

“Here we have an example of a classic ‘black’ programme: an aircraft which has been built and flight tested for a number of years – and no one outside the programme knew about it,” says Nick Cook, aerospace consultant to Janes Defence Weekly. Other highly classified aircraft that have ultimately been revealed included the U-2 and Blackbird spy planes and the B-2 stealth bomber.

The Bird of Prey cost $67 million and is the product of Boeing’s advanced research and development division, the Phantom Works. It first flew in 1996 and is said to have demonstrated a range of stealth and production technologies.

Agile and stealthy

It is a single seat, single engine design and with a reported maximum altitude of 6100 metres (20,000 feet). Its top speed is a relatively sedate 480 km/h (300 mph).

The unconventional configuration of the Bird of Prey suggests it has been designed to be highly agile and stealthy. But even though the aircraft itself has been revealed to the public, the stealth systems designed to suppress acoustic, infra-red, radar and even visual signatures are likely to be as highly classified as ever.

Sources suggest they may include active camouflage systems to reduce visibility by using panels or coatings that change colour or luminosity. This could allow safe combat missions in daylight, rather than being restricted to night flying. “And that would represent a revolutionary milestone in aerial warfare,” says Cook.

It is known that such technologies have been studied for several years, most probably at the remote test site in the Nevada desert near Groom Lake, better known as Area 51. This was also the probable location for the Bird of Prey’s 38 test flights.

You can view video of the Bird of Prey in flight or (hosted by Boeing)

A key aspect of the project was that the aircraft would be inexpensive to build. Phantom Works engineers say they used disposable tooling and 3-D virtual reality for its design and assembly.

It has not been confirmed whether the Bird of Prey was ultimately intended to be manned or unmanned. But the aircraft has clearly had a major influence in the design of Boeing’s unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator, the X-45. Two of these pilotless combat planes are currently undergoing test flights.

Armed UCAVs are among the hottest projects in military aviation, having the obvious advantage of not risking life, as well as being cheaper than manned aircraft.

Cook is not surprised that the Bird of Prey was at least initially a manned aircraft, as this helps gather performance data. “You may be sure that lessons learned from this programme will find their way into both manned and unmanned aircraft, not simply in terms of flight characteristics, but crucially in the method of design and production,” he says. And any company that steals a lead on its UCAV competitors stands to win very lucrative development and production contracts in the future.

It is widely believed that the US is planning for an attack that could overthrow Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, who it believes is developing weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi president responded publicly for the first time on Thursday, exhorting Iraqis to be prepared “with all the force you can to face your enemies”.

US intelligence reports indicate that key elements of the Iraqi war machine are located in heavily-fortified underground facilities or beneath civilian buildings such as hospitals. This means the role of non-lethal and precision weapons would be a critical factor in any conflict.

High Power Microwave (HPM) devices are designed to destroy electronic equipment in command, control, communications and computer targets and are available to the US military. They produce an electromagnetic field of such intensity that their effect can be far more devastating than a lighting strike.

Pumped flux

The effect exploited by HPM weapons was accidentally demonstrated in the 1950s when street lights in Hawaii were knocked out by the electromagnetic pulse produced by high altitude nuclear tests.

One unclassified approach to producing the required pulse is a device called an Explosive Pumped Flux Generator. In this a charged bank of capacitors energises a coil wrapped around a copper tube, which itself contains high explosives.

On detonation, the explosives expand the tube from the back and moves rapidly forward, forcing the tube to make progressive contact with the coil and causing a short circuit. This has the effect of crushing the magnetic field at the same time as reducing the coil’s inductance.

The resultant spike lasts tens to hundreds of microseconds and can produce peak currents of tens of millions of Amps and peak energies of tens of millions of Joules. By comparison, a typical lighting strike produces around 30,000 Amps.

Single use

HPM weapons would be single-use and could be delivered on almost any a cruise missile or unmanned aircraft. Future devices are likely to be re-usable.

Military planners will be particularly interested in claimed ability of HPM weapon’s to penetrate bunkers buried deep underground by using service pipes, cables or ducts to transmit the spike. Insulating equipment from such spikes, for example by using Faraday cages, is believed to be very difficult and expensive.

Another weapon that targets electronic equipment has already seen use in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Blackout bombs, such as the formerly classified BLU-114/B, releases a spider’s web of fine carbon filaments into the air above electrical distribution infrastructures. This causes short circuits when the filaments touch the ground.

Tomahawk cruise missiles fitted with warheads operating on similar lines attacked the Iraqi power grid during the 1990 Gulf war.

Although most drivers react quickly to sirens, many others cause delays and accidents by responding too slowly, or by driving dangerously once they realise they are causing an obstruction. Hutchison, who regularly has to negotiate crammed streets in a 12-tonne fire engine, blames improved vehicle soundproofing, high-output stereos, and a simple lack of road awareness on the part of drivers.

Warn-Tone transmits a spoken message that interrupts car radios and CD players, alerting drivers up ahead that an emergency vehicle is approaching. The root of the controversy is the question of just how far the signal will spread.

Hutchison claims only vehicles up to 100 metres ahead of the device should be affected, but Mark Thomas, head of engineering at the Radio Authority, the body which licenses radio frequencies in the UK, disagrees. “For a variety of reasons, notably interference with radio receivers over a radius of several kilometres, the whole concept is logically flawed,” Thomas says.

Road tests

The device is designed to scan the seven strongest radio signals in an area through which the emergency vehicle is travelling. It then broadcasts a warning tone on each frequency in turn, cycling once a minute. Additionally, it uses an alarm function that is part of the standard Radio Data System (RDS) to interrupt non-radio output such as cassette tapes and CDs.

Hutchison claims that a transmitter power of tens or perhaps hundreds of milliwatts would be sufficient for the system to work without causing interference in nearby homes and offices. This is because car radios are far more sensitive than domestic radios, and a directional antenna will ensure the signal is only transmitted forwards in a narrow beam.

His idea has been well received by fire chiefs, who are under government pressure to get to emergencies faster. More than 20 fire departments in Britain have expressed their support. The next step, Hutchison argues, is to test the system on the roads.

“We’ve been offered a Fire Service training ground so we can acquire data on the practical issues involved,” he says. “We need to try different transmitter levels and antenna combinations, but without the test licence, we’re stuck.”

But the Radio Authority remains unconvinced, citing its knowledge of the way radio waves propagate over long distances. “There’s no point in allowing these tests, because we know what the results will be,” Thomas told ��è����Ƶ.

The devices lie silent, watching for movement, heat, vibrations and other signals of activity and then report to airplanes or satellites above. This allows good surveillance of large areas and, crucially, a rapid response.

“Sensors are becoming increasingly important in intelligence gathering operations and it is safe to assume that they will be deployed in Afghanistan,” says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.Org, a military think tank based in Alexandria, Virginia. “However, these devices will often be used by special forces personnel, so details will be classified.”

Importantly, he says: “Measurement sensors are hard to hide from. As winter moves in, infra-red detection becomes easier – warm air from ventilation shafts in bunkers show up real well. And how do you fool seismic sensors that can detect and distinguish vibrations from the movement of jeeps, people or horses?”

Caves and tunnels

US forces are searching for bin Laden and members of the al-Qaida network, which the US holds responsible for the terrorist atrocities of 11 September. Reports of their whereabouts are contradictory, but they are thought to be hiding in the caves and tunnels that riddle parts of Afghanistan.

A reward of $25 million has been offered and the US hopes the wanted men can be located using intelligence from anti-Taliban forces or mercenaries, combined with data from their own special forces and sensors, aircraft and satellites.

“If he moves, we spot him,” a Pentagon official told Time. “If he doesn’t move, we close in on him, cave by cave.”

The US has made clear that its personnel will not enter heavily defended caves to capture or kill bin Laden. Why risk casualties, another Pentagon official said, “when we’ve got 50,000 opposition fighters on the ground who are willing to do it?” Other options are to use “bunker buster” bombs to penetrate strongholds, or fuel-air explosion devices to attack those inside.

Sensor to shooter

A key purpose of small Unattended Ground Sensors (UGSs) is to reduce what the military call “sensor to shooter time”, i.e. the time delay between gathering intelligence and acting on it. This is particularly crucial when targets are small or highly mobile. A number of reports suggest bin Laden and Taliban leaders have narrowly escaped US attacks that followed intelligence reports.

The UGSs can be buried by ground forces or camouflaged and dropped from the air. They lie in wait for the enemy and report any activity using a combination of seismic, acoustic, infra-red, optical and magnetic technologies. It is this real time data that speeds up the decision making process.

The newest generation of sensor arrays benefit from advances in computer processor speed and software design. This means these distributed systems can be networked together by secure radio link to provide real-time information, often by via satellite. The data may then be relayed to a nearby soldier’s laptop, or via several repeater units to a command post some distance away.

Psychological edge

Networks of several arrays of UGSs usefully permit the monitoring of the direction and speed of movement. For example, sudden, unexplained changes in activity along routes could suggest the location of unknown bases.

UGSs also have a psychological edge. Even if some are discovered, the enemy will not know if they have found them all or to what extent their activities have been compromised.

Pike does sound a note of caution, though: “Although sensors can help, no one should imagine that tracking down small groups of individuals hiding in difficult terrain is easy. It’s a tough job, but it can be done.”

The US has declared it has air supremacy, so military commanders will now be turning their attention from surface targets to the fortified networks of caves and bunkers thought to be used by the Al-Qaeda network and the Taliban rulers.

On Thursday, reports suggest that powerful bombs capable of pile driving themselves through many metres of earth, concrete or rock before exploding are now being used against these hardened targets.

There is much speculation that ground forces, supported by helicopters, may soon be in action. But the perils of this are substantial and missiles and bombs are likely to remain the primary means of attack in the short term.

The most likely candidate for the large explosions reported is the laser guided GBU-28 “Bunker Buster”. This was developed in record time during the Gulf War. It consists of a 2000 kilogram warhead with a reinforced frame that enables it to penetrate seven metres in concrete or 30 metres into earth.

The GBU-28 needs its target to be pinpointed by laser either from the air or from ground based special forces personnel. However, the advent of the Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAM, in the late 1990s has opened up new possibilities.

The JDAM is a kit that can be fitted to conventional “dumb” deep penetration bombs to turn them into precision weapons, guided by a combination of the global positioning satellite network and its own inertial guidance system.

JDAMs have the advantage of working in any weather, unlike laser-guided weapons. They are also much cheaper. While a GBU-28 may cost $145,000, a JDAM is $10,000.

An unlikely, but available, option is the B61-11 tactical nuclear bomb. The 350 kg weapon is designed to be delivered by a B-2 stealth bomber and to direct its explosive force downwards.

A tail mounted rocket accelerates the B61-11 downwards, allowing its hardened nose to penetrate up to 20 m into the ground. The directed nuclear blast would cause extensive destruction to a depth of several hundred metres.

Attacking highly fortified positions or caves is immensely difficult, as the Soviets discovered during their occupation of Afghanistan. One of the many ruthless tactics they employed was the use of the thermobaric bomb, also known as the vacuum bomb or fuel air explosive (FAE).

A thermobaric weapon typically comprises of a container of volatile gas or liquid and two relatively small explosive charges. The first bursts open the casing, creating a deadly explosive mist which is ignited by the second.

The resultant intense fireball is followed an immense overpressure and shockwave moving at several thousand metres per second. Its destructive capability is such that it can be compared with a low yield nuclear device.

Experience from previous conflicts suggests these devastating weapons also have an enormous psychological impact on those who witness them being used. But the Soviet’s ultimate failure shows the difficulty facing the US-led alliance.